OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2820, 9 August 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

(KKOM oril (IW.N- CORRESI'ONIJKNT.) Syd.vky, July !). l'KKii,\r's one of tho f entonces most generally eud.irsed by the moral sense of the people was that which was passed on Dr. McLeud. On evidence which showed that he had treated his first vvife with Ljreat cruelty in order to extort, from her certain monies which she had within hor own control ho w;n found guilty of bisraniy and sentenced accordingly. Dr. .MeLeod was no ordinary criminal. He had at one time posed us a minister of religion— a professional reader of kouls as well as a professional healer of bodies, [n his defence, his counsel with great ingenuity sought to show that whatever had been tho moral quality of his conduct ho had been artful enough to keep within tho letter of tho law and to walk forth triumphant and unwhippod of justice, ltavinpr tho two women whoso porsons ho had abused, whoso affections ho had trampled upon and whoso lives he had ruined without redress. The pleading, however, fell npiin deaf ears. The jury found him guilty, the judge did his duty, and the public, who had been nauseated by the revelations of hypocrisy, cruelty, and meanness which wero made known ; ,Ml," trial hejriu to breathe lively and :■) i\ j.'ice that there were courts in t.he cnuiit.rv wheio ori'ne'would meet with its due r.'H-ar-:l. So far so good. Out now two or throe leading newspapers, in language marked by special pleading, of which ouo wnuM imagine that ii'i cue but a profe-s-iiiniil advocate would bo guilty lemarid that tho eonvictiin should b" quashed on t.he ground of a wretched technicality. it, appears that certain copies of an American marriage certificate, duly certified by tho consul, wero admitted as evidence of the second marriago. There was plenty of otheifevidenco to establish it; evidence which, when brought before Judge VViudeyer, justified him in grunting a divorce. 15ut now it is conteiide 1 that on iiciMiiint fit" the admis-

siuu of tin; (lußumeut!! miuitioiiud tho i.'oiiviet.idii ought to bu quashed, and tho [iri.-oner net at liberty. Tim point waa n.'lVrnfl to tin; Full Court, who, howovei , , (licicl-''l iisfiiiiist thu pti.souor, admitting tluit tho ducumouts had Leon erroneously

received, but declared as by statute they ari enabled to do, that no substantial wrong had beeu done to the prisoner by the informality, Judgo Windeyer was the only dissentient, and ho appeared to think that the power alluded to must (in all eases where tho admissibleness of evidence which respects vital issues is concerned) be left, in abeyance, bf cause it. is imposiblo to sav what effect it might or iniifht not have upon the minds of the jury. To the professional mind n criminal case is something like a giiiiio of chess. The greater ,1 rami's guilt the more it appears to glory in letting him e-Ciipo provided it can be shown that on his conviction some one of the ten thousand ininutiiu which the traditions and precedents of ages have heaped around our legal procedure has been violated. One would not bo astonished if lawyers who live by quibbles should write in the press to enforce scruples of this kind. Tho whole of their professional training predisposes them to set tho "mint, and cummin and'rue" of complicated technicality above the broad principles of justice and judgment. But that newspapers, which are supposed to voice tho moral sense of the people, and to whom, moro than to any source, we look for the final defeat of soulless routine ami peifunctoriness, should take such a stand is rather surprising. Ido not suppose there is a man or woman in tho community who does not beliove that Dr. MacLeod has met his just deserts, and who is not gratified to find that the law is not quite as powerless for justice as is generally supposed.

The stud sheep sales nro now in full swing and pastoralists are busily engaged in selecting , rams to improve their flocks, and to raise the character of their wool. Every year it becomes more evident that quality and evenness of character throughout, are the ".ssential conditions of success. The few pence per lb extra, which can be secured by judicious breeding, and classing commonly include all the margin of profit. Accordingly greater care is exercised every season, in endeavouring to attain an?l improve these all important points, and every year the stud sheep sales assume greater proportions, and attract larger numbers of buyers.

High duties lead to illicit distillation, and smuggling. At present a great deal of the misery which flows from drunkenness can be traced to very cheap spirits, which are forced into consumption, and the importation and the ilicit manufacture of these descriptions is directly encouraged by the high duty, and publicans are expected to sell their liquors at a fixed price per glass or per bottle, and if they are compelled to pay fourteen shillings per gallon duty, instead of ten, it means in many oases, that they will pay four shillings a gallon less for the liquor. Now four shillings from eight means a reduction of fifty per cent, in quality, which is sufficiently alarming. But, as a matter of fact, thousands of gallons of cheap grain spirit, new, raw, and in the highest degree dangerous are sold every week at from two to four shillings a gallon in bond ! This abominable stuff— veritable chain lightning—is variouly coloured and flavoured, and is called "brandy," "rum," "whiskey," or "gin," according to the fancied requirements of the market. Now, a deleterious spirit at 2s per gallon in bond costs 103 when the duty is paid. A fairly sound spirit at 8s per gallon costs 203. Thus, a spirit four times as bad goes into consumption at only about a fourth less money, and the difference in quality— the one being almost a poison, and the other reasonably wholesome—is almost wholly lost sight of, owing to the operation of the duty. There is. every reason to believe that unscrupulous publicans, as well as unscrupulous wholesale dealers, palm off the lb'.s abomination on their customers instead of the '20$, anil the high duty, .13 I have shown, facilitates the fraud. Of course, it encourages the illicit manufacture and sale of spirits in the colony, as well as the importation of cheap and dangerous rubbish, and the effect on the nerves and brains of the consumers may be more easily imagined than described. No wonder that the expenditure on lunatic asylums increases, or that horrible and ghastly cases of suicide are almost daily reported.

Parliament has decided, by an overwhelming majority, that the system of subsidising country agricultural societies is to bo continued. It is open to serious objection inasmuch as it tends to multiply tho number of small societies which compete with each other to the extent of seriously detracting from their usefulu'\ss. The Government arj of opinion that better results would bo obtained by concentrating these grants on a considerably smaller number of representative societies. But the claims of existing vested rights were too strong for them and they had not the courage to oppose Mr Gormley's motion which declared tho necessity of continuing tho subsidies as at present ppid, so that the Opposition champion scored a bloodless victory and the public purse will bo duly bled "as per usual."

The Government have taken great paius to encourage the agricultural interest. They have taken a public .school inspector and placed him at the head of the department. Ho lectures, and writes, and edits a monthly magazine which is published by tho Government. Then there aro other lecturers under him and they also talk and write on bucolic subjects with more or leas pertinency or wisdom. In addition to opening these stores of oratory and erudition to tho agricultural public, conferences of farmers are summoned, and every talkative " son of the soil " is encouraged to expound his views and narrate his experiences for tho enlightenment of his fellows, and sometimes, it must be confessed, to their intense weariness also. Then we are to have agricultural farms, experiments as to the cause of rust in wheat and ruthless destruction of phylloxera by destroying tho vineyards which harbour them. All this is excessively woll meant, and although it wears a very amateurish aspect and savours slichtly of tho methods of the scholastic Chinese, no one has anything serious tosay against it, provided of oourne that the colony is rich enough to pay for its new freak. But I question seriously whether tho effort is being applied where it will do most pood. A protective duty that will induce men by their pecuinary interests, to grow more wheat, or oats, or potatoes, or fruit would be le j s expensive in tho long run, and would produce greater, more direct, and more lasting results. How not to do this, which has been done with such striking success in Victoria and New Zealand, appears to bo tho problom which the Government have set themselves.

No less than three bye elections* aro to take place withiu the next few days. One at Balraain is caused by the insolvency of tho lute member Mr J. S. Hawthorne, who seeks re-election ; one at Lithgon, by the insolvency of Mr Hurley, who also asks tho electors to return him again, and one at the Namoi by tho death of Mr T. G. Dangar, who, up to date has shown no sign of contesting the decision which produced tho vacancy, At Balmain there is not likely to be any Protectionist/, opposition, but ut Lithgow Mr Hurley, who is a supporter of the Government is to be opposed by Mr Norton, who is a Protectionist, and an advocate of tho rights of labour. At tho Namoi two candidates arc spoken of, but as yet noting is definitely settled.